British and Spanish Unions' Responses to Relocation and Perceptions of Solidarity in the Automotive Sector
Fabio De Franceschi
DOI: 10.2190/WR.17.1.g
Abstract
In recent decades, pressure by companies in the automotive sector to relocate production from Western Europe to lower labour-cost countries has been increasing. Unions have had the option to organise coordinated responses at the international level or to respond locally, potentially accepting concessions on wages and working conditions. This comparative qualitative study, based on 12 semi-structured interviews with key sector-level union officers in the United Kingdom and Spain, analyses unions' responses to relocation in the automotive sector, and asks whether concepts of solidarity could lead to changes in these strategies. It shows that unions' strategies are shaped more by contingent situations than by identities, and that international and local competition among workers pushes unions to adopt short-term strategies to defend local jobs. British and Spanish unions use different strategies: in the UK, the response is based on "market-related" strategies and industrial action, while in Spain, aid from state and authorities plays a prominent role.
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